Apple Launching Remote iOS Diagnostics Tool Internally

A remote iOS device diagnostics tool is being readied for deployment to Apple’s help desk personnel with the purpose of assisting customers in troubleshooting various potential issues with their iOS devices.

According to France-based Hardmac, Apple has told staff that the tools that will facilitate a diagnostic are being readied for internal deployment.

Apple Support staff will be able to remotely assist a customer by sending an email to the device containing a URL which the customer accesses and connect’s to Apple’s help desk.

According to the blog’s sources, the device will connect through Mobile Safari at which point the Apple technician can start internal checks.

For now, the test can only identify the following information, according to the report:

- Health, level of load of the battery, duration passed since the last complete charge,
- Minimum level to which the battery was discharged,  
- iOS version installed,
- To know if the mobile was turned off normally the preceding time.

It is believed that this should largely facilitate the procedures of repair, though more criteria will likely have to be added in the future if Apple wants to meet customers’ demands.

Also noted in the report is that the only 'personal' information that will be sent over to Apple’s servers are the unique device identifier (UUID) of the mobile device, the name of the device, and the daily calculation of call times.

This diagnostics tool is expected to be distributed “in the next months everywhere,” according to the report.

Such a tool would undoubtedly go hand in hand with the upcoming iOS 5, but Apple will likely offer support for iOS 4 and, perhaps, even iOS 3.x customers stuck on first-generation devices.

It is also being speculated that Apple may use this diagnostics tool to detect jailbreaks.